ILOILO CITY (PIA) – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau 6 recently organized a webinar on government policy issuances governing river restoration through dredging activities.

DENR-6 OIC Regional Executive Director Livino Duran commended the MGB and DENR for the webinar which provided a venue to tackle government policy issuances governing river restoration through dredging activities.

Duran said that the webinar aimed at creating an appreciation of the importance of the roles of concerned government entities, most especially the LGUs in the implementation of policies, and the roles of the three national government agencies – DPWH, DENR (MGB), and EMB – in the different aspects and phases of a dredging project. 

He said it also provided an opportunity for continuous inter-agency coordination in harmonizing the policy issuances as he welcomed the participants and thanked MGB-6 for organizing the learning event.

MGB 6 Information Officer Laralournie Artajo said the webinar was a needed forum for the stakeholders especially local government units to discuss the policies on dredging activities as an engineering intervention to clear, desilt, and de-clog heavily silted rivers, waterways and inland bodies to address flooding.

Resource persons included OIC-Office of the Regional Director Raul A. Laput, Mine Management Division Chief Engr. Florian T. Jimenez, and Mine Safety, Environment and Social Development Division OIC-Chief Engr. Johnny T. Matias of MGB-6, Engr. Sara Gellamucho, Senior EMS of the Clearance and Permitting Division of EMB-6, and Engr. Michael Alpasan, Engineer V of the DPWH-UPMO-Flood Control Management Cluster.

Among the topics discussed by the resource persons were Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2019: Guidelines on the Issuance of Clearance and/or Permit for Dredging Within Waterways or Other Inland Bodies of Water (Specifically Section 5.1); MGB Memorandum Circular 2019-07: Clarificatory Guidelines on Section 5.1.2.C of DPWH-DENR-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2019-01; DENR Administrative Order 2020-01: Rationalizing Dredging Activities in the Heavily-Silted River Channels Within the Province of Negros Occidental Pursuant to the DENR-DPWH-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2019. (MGB-DENR/laf/PIA6- Iloilo)